My name is Paulo, I'm from Portugal and a proud owner of an E30 with an S38B38 swap.This will be my first standalone instalation and I think of it like a learning experience, which will require all the help I can get.

Objectives:MAF deleteLearn as much as possible about EFI and its instalationTune it myselfPrepare for further mods down the road (turbo mayhem)

First set of questions:1 - AFAIK this engine sports sequential spark and ignition from factory, should I try to keep that up with MS3 or would that be to hard for a novice user?2 - Can I control the Ressonance Flap with some sort of PWM or on/off trigger? Maybe with a boost solenoid?3 - Should I use the stock wiring as far as possible or ditch and do it all myself?

S38addict wrote:First set of questions:1 - AFAIK this engine sports sequential spark and ignition from factory, should I try to keep that up with MS3 or would that be to hard for a novice user?

As you already have to make the distributorless ignition work, sequential injection won't be any harder. An MS3 with MS3X and QuadSparks is probably the easiest route here. In some respects, MS3 is a bit more user friendly than MS2.

2 - Can I control the Ressonance Flap with some sort of PWM or on/off trigger? Maybe with a boost solenoid?

Every intake flap type system I've seen has been a simple on/off. Never seen one that needed to be PWM'ed.

3 - Should I use the stock wiring as far as possible or ditch and do it all myself?

If it's in good shape, I'd use as much of the stock wiring as I could.

Thanks Matt, I finished reading your book today, and thus felt confident enough to create this topic. Good job!

I am not too familiar with QuadSparks, but I undestand these are sets of 4 external coil drivers that plug between the ECU and the Coils. Am I correct? How can I be sure they will work with my BMW coils?

Other than the ECU, WBand, loom, coil drivers (quadsparks) and GM IAT, what else will I need to get going?

S38addict wrote:I am not too familiar with QuadSparks, but I undestand these are sets of 4 external coil drivers that plug between the ECU and the Coils. Am I correct? How can I be sure they will work with my BMW coils?

The QuadSpark is 4 mounted, heat sinked and prewired BIP373 transistors in a case. The BIPs work well with BMW COPs, been there done that.

Rick Finsta wrote:Matt, is there a reason he can't use Easytherm and calibrate for the stock IAT?

Yeah, MS3 doesn't use EasyTherm. It's done through TunerStudio.

I can't recall where the IAT is located on these cars - on the earlier ones with Motronic 1.2, it's built into the air flow meter and not easy to separate from it, so early S38 owners usually end up running a GM IAT.

I've checked your website and found something really interesting (as usual btw)...The DIYBOB, but as far as I can tell, there isn't one for the 88 pin motronic loom that the later S38B38 has. Is this in development? If not, why is that?

Building an adaptor to the stock harness is the easiest way. Also it gives you option to make things in pnp style to switch to stock ecu in any time. All stock sensors should work. You only need to place some bip373 transistors for the coils. And to make the "start circuit" on the adaptor to switch on main relay.

I really need a crash course on board electronics, relays and electrical stuff in general. Can you suggest a book, something online or whatever? I've seen a book on Amazon on Automotive wiring, but I'm not sure how useful it really is on my project...